The Road to Nowhere
by whysostephanie
Summary: A sequel to A World On Fire, Ashlyn finds it hard to trust anyone, including her own cousin, after what happened the night Hershel's farm was taken. Is the world really as safe as she wants to think? Or will she find herself in more trouble than she can handle? DISCLAIMER: Rated M for violence, strong language, and explicit content.
1. Chapter One - Introduction

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

Remember when I said that people watch the world burning for all sorts of reasons? Well, mine was as simple as seeing how close I could get before I got burned… After everything that's happened, I've learned my lesson. I reached out my hand to touch the glowing flames and ended up a blaze.

That's what happens when you watch the world burn for too long without doing a damn thing about it. You get burned, and when you don't let anyone help you, you get left behind. So what is there left to do? You can emerge from the ashes pray to God that you survive long enough to save yourself. If you can't, you can die trying.

My vision was blurred and my shoulder throbbed. I felt light headed and delirious, most certainly from blood loss and over exertion. I tried to make out the features of the man carrying me, in the pale moonlight I finally saw him look down to me. My heart raced in unease when I saw his face; it was Shane. I gasped for air and pushed my hands against his chest trying to break free, "no! NO! Put me down!"

The world began to go black as my head began to pound; Shane's voice filled my head. Chills ran down my spine as I lost consciousness, "shhh, Ash, I've got you..."

* * *

"What the hell do you mean you _lost_ her?!" Daryl shouted, grabbing Rick by the shirt collar, "I _trusted _you to get her out of there you son of a…" he gritted his teeth and cut himself off by slamming Rick into the side of the truck.

Rick refused to look Daryl in the eye; he just looked at the ground while he took in Daryl's harsh words. He understood Daryl's frustration and knew in his heart that it had been his fault that she was overrun by walkers. Rick was unable to muster up the courage to tell Daryl that he was the one who shot her down, leaving her for the walkers. In all honesty, he didn't know if he could live with himself because of all that had happened in the night. He figured it was fate getting back at him for killing Shane. Ashlyn was the only person who had complete faith in him, she was the only person he could trust with everything, and he needed her counsel now more than ever.

"STOP IT!" Lori cut in, grabbing Daryl by the shoulder, "she's your cousin and YOUR responsibility so don't pin this on Rick, where were you when the farm was taken, huh?!"

Daryl glared her down, but before he could say anything, Rick spoke up, "no, Lori… He's right… She was counting on me, and I let her down."

Daryl's grip loosened, and he looked down. He lost the one person he still cared about, and there was nothing he could do about it. He knew he should have gone back for her himself, but he trusted Rick and now regretted it completely.

Lori put her hands on her hips, "of course you feel that way," she murmured to Rick in a nearly appalled tone as she stormed off to the guard rail nearby. She already knew the truth about Shane, her trust in Rick was already failing.

"Daryl, I am so sorry," Rick said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "but we lost others too… Andrea… Shane… Hershel's people too."

This comment made Daryl scoff, "and they ain't my baby cousin." He mumbled curses under his breath as he let go of Rick and stormed off into the woods. No one followed him, they just let him go, knowing he didn't want to talk to anyone.

Night fell, and the group set up camp. Rick admitted to killing Shane, in self-defense, but never admitted the truth of how he left Ashlyn. Hershel knew the reality of the situation, but he also knew it was not his place to involve himself. Daryl remained to himself, quiet and closed off from everyone else. He was still in disbelief over all that had happened.

After Rick gave his speech about taking control of the group and not letting it be a democracy anymore he went off on his own for a bit. He needed desperately to clear his head. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the same image of Ashlyn going down, he heard her screams over and over again in his head. The guilt he felt was nearly over whelming; it was more than that which he felt towards Shane. Ashlyn had been one of the reasons he had originally accepted killing Shane. He thought that if he was dead not only could Shane be unable to steal Lori and Carl for himself- but he'd also be unable to harm Ashlyn any further. Now, Rick lost all certainty in his actions, more than that he lost his strongest confidant and supporter.

He stared off into the woods, looking for any ounce of comfort he could- and that's when he saw it. There was a light off in the woods about a hundred yards out, close to the road. It looked vaguely like a fire. Rick made his way towards the dimly glowing light with his gun at the ready. He had no idea what to expect, but if there were people nearby he needed to know whether they were a threat or not.

As he got closer he realized that it was a dying flame, and by the looks of it, it had been burning for a long time. There was a truck nearby as well, keeping Rick on his guard. It looked familiar to him but he had seen a thousand trucks like it in his lifetime. He crouched down by the fire, looking around at the few objects that were laid out near it. There were bloodied cloths that looked to be torn from a shirt- in fact there was blood everywhere, and a lot of it… Something shining in the moonlight caught Rick's eye, he reached down and picked up a silver chain from the dirt. Once he saw what was at the end of it, his jaw dropped. It was the same silver necklace Ashlyn had worn around her neck.

"It can't be…" He whispered, staring at the locket in the light of the glowing embers. He came back to reality when he looked down at the blood, "Ashlyn!"

In a heartbeat he was on his feet, rushing to the old beat up truck. He looked inside and his heart sank. Ashlyn was lying inside, curled into a ball, but was she alive?

"Oh God, please," he whispered shakily as he opened the door so forcefully he thought he'd break the handle right off. "Ashlyn, Ashlyn please, wake up!"

He took her pulse, noticing it was weak. He then noticed her messily wrapped shoulder, fearing the worst. Carefully as he could, he moved the bandage, praying that it wasn't a bite wound. When he saw the burns he was speechless and confused. In awe of what he had found he picked up Ashlyn's bloody and limp figure, "Ash, hold on, it's okay now…" Rick's words were soft but held worry; he could only hope she could hear him.

As he carried her back to camp he tried to hurry, knowing Hershel needed to look at her. While he got closer to camp he began calling for Daryl in a haze, then for Hershel and the others. Daryl was the first to approach him.

"What the hell, keep yer voice down!" Daryl snapped, before he saw Rick carrying the girl, "that's not… Oh my God, ASH!"

Once he saw who it was he ran to Rick, "oh, God, Ash…"

Rick looked down to her, his words were spaced out, he was nearly in shock "she's alive… but barely, blood everywhere, she…. There's a burn on her shoulder." She began opening her eyes.

"It's alright now," Rick said softly, trying not to sound worried, "Ashlyn." Once she heard him speak her eyes widened, it was almost as though she didn't recognize him. She started screaming and pushing at him, but he just spoke again, "shh Ashlyn, I've got you." The girl lost consciousness again, but mumbled a name.

Shane.

Rick felt his stomach drop at the sound of his name, he wasn't even sure if all this was really happening, but he knew that he couldn't let this girl die… He'd already left her for dead once and knew he couldn't let it happen again.

"What the hell happened to her?!" Daryl frantically questioned, looking at her bandages, "HERSHEL, get out here!"

By the time they got to camp everyone was gathering around in concern, Rick laid Ashlyn down on the bed of Hershel's truck, he put his now bloodied hands in his hair. "I thought… She was… She went down…Hershel…. You saw it…"

Daryl rushed to Ashlyn's side, pushing past Rick, he started checking her for bites, "shit, she's lost a lot of blood… Come on little girl, stay with me." He grabbed her hand, squeezing it. It took every ounce of strength he had to hold back the tears that were forming.

By now, Hershel was examining her as well, "you're right, she had lost a lot of blood. The burn on her shoulder- it looks like a cauterization wound. Rick, that bullet must have gone straight through…" He checked her pulse.

"Bullet? What bullet?" Daryl questioned, dropping Ash's hand, looking to Rick, "what the hell is he talking about, Rick?" Daryl hissed lowly, taking a step towards the man.

"It was an accident, I swear," Rick pleaded, backing away, "she was surrounded, I missed my mark… I… I.."

"YOU _SHOT_ MY BABY GIRL?!" Daryl screamed lunging at Rick, Glen and T-Dog held him back, "WHEN WERE YOU GONNA TELL ME THIS, HUH?" Daryl broke free from their grasp and threw a right-hook at Rick, hitting him square in the jaw.

"STOP!" Lori cried. Carol held her back so she wouldn't get in the crossfire.

Rick took the punch, knowing he deserved it, "I'm sorry…" Was all he could manage to say.

Daryl scoffed at this, shaking his head.

"You better be fucking sorry," he spat, "you've been nothin' BUT trouble for her since she came 'round here! You stay the hell away from her from now on, _YOU GOT THAT_?" Daryl's voice was cold and demanding, he jabbed Rick in the chest with two fingers, trying to make his point clear.

Rick just hung his head for a moment without answering Daryl. Finally, he looked to Hershel, "will she be alright?"

"It's hard to tell… We don't have any of the proper provisions to look after her here… But she's strong, and she did the right thing by cauterizing the wound… It looks like a clean burn so she must have disinfected it somehow. We'll need to take shifts, monitoring her condition until she comes to. But…She's a fighter, I'm almost positive she'll survive…."

"You're damn right she'll survive," Daryl spoke up bluntly. Walking over to Ashlyn, he sat down next to her softly touching her cheek, "she's a Dixon..."

* * *

**Author Note: **

Welcome back everyone! And…. Hello to all of you new readers, (who must be extremely confused right now….) this is officially the kick off to part two of A World on Fire.  
In all honesty this was NOTHING like I planned for the story to go, but because of the poll I had going around and your guys' opinion of where the story should go, I had to improvise and change my plot completely (for now…) Originally Merle was going to find her, but don't worry, I'm sure they'll run into each other again someday ;) Anyway, Ashlyn has had one hell of a ride, first she gets shot, then cauterized the wound BY HERSELF, and then finally hallucinates and see's Shane. Or is she hallucinating? Maybe she's crossing over to the other side? Nah, I couldn't end this story THAT quickly. In any case… This was the extremely rough introduction to The Road to Nowhere, part two of A World on Fire.  
I promise it will get better; I'm just terrible at introductions/transitions. BUT, thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

There was a pounding in my head that made it appear as though the earth itself was shaking. My vision was blurred and I couldn't come close to comprehending my surroundings. Then, another throbbing began- this one from my shoulder. The pain was excruciating but I was unable to say a word, let alone move. What felt like hours passed, but I'm sure it was only minutes or maybe even seconds. Slowly I could feel myself easing back into full consciousness. Or was I dead? Was this heaven? Or maybe it was hell… Considering the pain I had been feeling; I definitely thought it was hell for sure.

Suddenly my lungs were constricting and I felt myself gasp for air as I began coughing. I shot up; I had apparently been lying on my back because I was now sitting upright with my eyes wide open. How's that for a wakeup call? It was like awaking from the darkest nightmare when I finally looked around. I had felt a hand on mine which startled me at first, so much so that I jerked it away. Of course, this was a poor life choice at the time; my freshly burnt shoulder immediately sent pain surging through my nervous system. I whimpered through gritted teeth as I heard a soft chuckle come from beside me. I turned my attention towards the sound.

"Welcome back to the land of the livin' cuz," Daryl's quiet voice was music to my ears.

I am more than sure that the confusion I felt was painted on my face, or written in Sharpie, you never know. Daryl seemed to know what I was going to say and answered before I had the chance to ask.

"I bet you're wondering how you got here, huh?" he sighed, "well, it's a good thing you're a fighter or else you'd of been a goner by the time Rick found you…" Daryl clenched his fist while saying his name, there was an obvious tension in his voice- and that's when I remembered how I got into that mess in the first place… Suddenly, I was just as tense as Daryl.

"But I thought Shane found me?" I asked quietly, trying to gingerly move my shoulder- making sure it was still moveable.

"Cut that out, don't mess with that…." Daryl scolded, pausing, "No, uh… Shane's no longer with us..."

It was quiet for a moment, first confused but ultimately curious. I started to fidget, not knowing what to say. I mentioned to my cousin that I wanted to go for a walk, but Daryl told me to take it easy and made me sit with him for a while. The look in his eyes was restless. He looked so relieved behind his tired eyes; suddenly this made me wonder how long he'd been watching over me.

I looked at him, squinting into the sun behind him. It was either dawn or dusk, but I had no idea which one so I had to ask, "huh, so… How long was I out?"

"The better part of two days, well, after we found ya. We got to ya the night after the attack, and… Well, the farm fell. The group lost a lotta' people, Andrea, the woman and that boy from the Farm, and… Shane too…"

I was surprised, to say the least, to hear to hear that both Andrea and Shane were lost in the fight for the farm. I thought they were both some of the strongest and most capable members within the group- whether I liked them or not was a completely separate matter. Hershel's people though, I wasn't surprised. They were naïve and highly dependent on others; two traits that will get you killed now days.

I hung my head in slight disbelief, "so walkers took them down?"

Daryl looked over to me, something in his eyes changed, as if something was wrong. He seemed uneased and I wasn't sure why. He let out a long, worn out sigh, "well, for the most part, yeah… Walkers."

"What aren't you tellin' me…?" I asked looking up at him.

"Shane wasn't killed by walkers," he looked at me before pausing. He opened his mouth to say something but instead, just looked towards the distance to his left. I caught onto his gesture and looked in the same direction. I saw Rick crouched near a fire off in the distance. Far enough away for it to be apparent to what Daryl and I were talking about but close enough for me to recognize him.

I looked down, noticing the dried blood that still remained on my worn brown cowgirl boots. Softly, I bit my lip. There was no doubt that I was in disbelief from what had been happening. First and foremost, I could not believe I made it out alive. Second, I couldn't believe the group found me so quickly after having left me for dead. But finally, I could absolutely not comprehend the actions of one particular individual. Rick Grimes, the man who I assumed to be the most stable and in-charge of the group. As I thought about these things, I remembered what Daryl had told me that first night I came to the group… He told me to steer clear of Rick; it was only now that I knew I should have listened.

"Daryl," I whispered, "you were right… About minding what's yours and nothin' else."

He looked at me with a slight grin as he said, "I'm always right cuz."

After a short silence, Hershel made his way over to us, he had taken notice that I had awoken and decided to fill me in on any necessary precautions to take with my fresh wound. He praised my successful effort to cauterize the bullet hole and told me that he could teach me a couple things from the medical world if I had any interest. I smiled warmly at his kindness and thanked him for all his concern and help. After catching up with Hershel, a few other group members made their way to me to wish me well and such. Carol came first alongside Carl; whose mother was watching in the distance with a look of disapproval that caught me by surprise. After they left, Beth and Maggie approached; to whom I wished deep condolences. I had suspected Rick to make his way over, hoping that he wouldn't. Fortunately, for me, he kept his distance.

Rick stayed back, staring at the flames, occasionally looking back towards where Daryl and I sat on the tailgate of that old pickup truck that belonged to Hershel. Our eyes caught each other's briefly in the distance between us, but I quickly looked away with arrogance about me. If nothing else, I could hold a grudge like no tomorrow.

One by one, people began turning in for the night. Daryl had originally refused to leave my side but I convinced him that he needed the rest more than I did. He had been up for days and knew that he was exhausted. Eventually, I was one of the last people awake. I knew someone was keeping watch by camp, but I wandered around the outskirts just a little to see where we were. I made sure not to go far and kept the fire within my sights at all times- just in case. I found a tree stump and sat down on it, looking towards the open clear sky. It was a cool, breezy night, I could easily tell fall was setting in and it was bound to be a harsh winter this year.

I sighed to myself as I tried moving my shoulder around, to my dismay it was still extremely tender. Cautiously, I unbuttoned the top few buttons of my flannel shirt, sliding the fabric down over my wounded shoulder. I carefully removed my wrappings and gauze to examine the damage some more now that Daryl couldn't interrupt my curiosity. My skin was red and blistered from the cauterization; I looked closer to see the defined marks from the exit wound on the back of my shoulder. I grimaced and closed my eyes at the shattering memory of the pain and fear that came with the wound.

A voice shook me from my thoughts when I heard a soft, "I am so sorry."

I gasped, obviously startled, and turned around to see who was there. When I saw that it was Rick I suddenly felt uneased and my body growing tense. I quickly covered myself back up- a little too quickly as I yelped in pain.

"I didn't mean to startle you…" Rick lowered his gaze, like a lost puppy.

I didn't say anything. I just gingerly tried to rearrange my bandages under my shirt. There were a million things I wanted to say, to scream at him, but part of me was afraid. Maybe I didn't know Rick as well as I had thought.

"Alright, I get it," Rick said. "I guess I'll just say my part… It was wrong of me to leave you there but when you went down I assumed the worst… I never wanted to be responsible for you getting hurt, Ashlyn."

"What about Shane?" I asked, still facing my back to him.

He sighed, "I didn't want to hurt him either. He kept talking about taking Lori and the baby from me, and Carl… And he kept making all these treats towards you, Ash… You're pissed, I get it, I do… But you're the last person who I can really trust anymore."

"Then it's a shame I can't trust you anymore… I never shoulda gotten tangled up in y'all's business." I said, finally walking away back to camp. I made my way to Daryl's tent, as I got in he had woken up- or maybe he hadn't been sleeping to begin with.

"If Rick don't start mindin' his own business I'm gonna have to knock in a few more of his teeth." Daryl whispered, "don't worry little girl, I'll watch out for you better from now on… Sorry I wasn't there for ya when you needed me."

His voice was soft, even defeated. I felt bad that he put my accident on himself. He drifted off to sleep, but I stayed awake. In my heart I knew that I had to do something, I kept telling myself I was a burden to Daryl and to the rest of the group. My mind was made up and I knew that it was time I take my leave. Once my arm was healed, I would go off on the road myself and leave everything else behind me.

Author Note: Thanks for reading, I actually thought I had finished this chapter and posted it before. My apologies for the delay. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Where do you think Ashlyn will go? What is in store for her?


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